Sen. Dino Melaye
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Kogi West senatorial election, Dino Melaye, has challenged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to sue him.
He said this in reaction to an allegation that he was caught on camera sharing money to some voters while on queue to cast their ballot during the election.
Senator Melaye and Mr Mohammed Onogwu, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, both appeared as guests on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
In his comments, the governor’s aide accused Senator Melaye of engaging in vote-buying, saying the APC has some video evidence to back the claim.
He said, “We have clips evidence where he (Melaye) was distributing money (voters) on the line where they were voting.”
While Onogwu was speaking, the PDP candidate interrupted in laughter and said, “What are you waiting for? Sue me.”
Instead, Senator Melaye accused the APC of being responsible for the violence which he said claimed 16 lives, alleging that a helicopter was deployed to attack voters.
He insisted that his party has evidence to prove their allegation against the APC and faulted the election, stressing that results were not cancelled in places where violence was recorded.
In his reaction, Onogwu said the allegation linking Governor Bello, who was the APC governorship candidate, to the violence in Lokoja during the elections was far from the truth.
According to him, the governor was at Agasa in Okene LGA with his convoy where he cast his vote and ensured that the exercise was peaceful and could not have been in Lokoja at the same time.
“The governor was not in Lokoja on the day of the election and he does not have a dual existence. He cannot be in Okene and at the same time be in Lokoja”.
“These are fallacious statements that they are making to discredit the entire electoral processes, to discredit the entire institutions that were involved in the conduct of the election,” the governor’s aide stated.
